A number of diseases are caused by the build-up of plaque in the arteries. These plaque deposits limit blood flow to the tissues that are supplied by that particular artery. When these deposits build up in the arteries of the heart, the problem is called coronary artery disease (CAD). When these deposits build up in the arteries of a limb, such as a leg, the condition is called peripheral artery disease (PAD).
Peripheral artery disease affects 8 to 12 million individuals in the United States and is also prevalent in Europe and Asia. Roughly 30% of the population over the age of 70 suffers from PAD. PAD typically causes muscle fatigue or pain brought about by exertion and relieved by rest. Symptoms of PAD can include leg pain during walking and wounds that do not heal. The inability to walk without leg pain often causes patients to stop exercising and reduces the patient's mobility. When the plaque builds up to the point where an artery is totally occluded, the obstruction is referred to as a Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO). A CTO that occludes the peripheral arteries for PAD patients is extremely serious. PAD patients that suffer from a CTO often enter a downward spiral towards death. Often the CTO in a peripheral artery results in limb gangrene, which requires limb amputation to resolve. The limb amputation in turn causes other complications, and roughly half of all PAD patients die within two years of a limb amputation.
The blood pumping action of the heart muscle is critical to sustaining the life of a patient. In order for the heart to function properly the tissues of the heart muscle must be continuously supplied and re-supplied with oxygen. To receive an adequate supply of oxygen, the heart muscle must be well perfused with blood. In a healthy heart, blood perfusion is accomplished with a system of arteries and capillaries. However, due to age, high cholesterol and other contributing factors, a large percentage of the population has arterial atherosclerosis that totally occludes portions of the patient's coronary arteries. A chronic total occlusion (CTO) in a coronary artery may cause painful angina, atrophy of cardiac tissue and patient death.